


Glowbug

by McFaye



Category: Long Exposure (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Mitch and Jo sneak out n catch fireflies bc i think thats a cute thing to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 04:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17594330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McFaye/pseuds/McFaye
Summary: An alternative way for Jonas to get his nickname.





	Glowbug

(They make,,, me happey. Obv canon divergent bc i need some good things for these boys)  
(Also I think it goes without saying I was listening to early 2000’s pop when i wrote this, so I was in a particular Mood.)

It had been a very humid night, and Mitch was doing everything in his power to cool off. The busted air conditioning in his room especially wasn’t doing him any favors. 

Minutes of tossing and turning later, he peeled off his sweaty shirt and threw it at the wall, with a grunt. It wasn’t like he slept very well anyways, but a little rest shouldn’t have been too much to ask. But now, in the blinding California heat, it was preventing any chance of rest entirely.

“Psst! Hey!”

Mitch swivelled his head and looked to the area outside of his broken bedroom window. He picked the dumbbell off of his floor, ready to throw it at Javier, but someone else was there.

“Hey! Sorry, did I wake you up?” 

“Joey?” Mitch dropped the weight to the floor, narrowly avoiding his foot.

Jonas was leaning bashfully on one foot, gazing up at Mitch’s weary face through the ripped screen. He was smiling anxiously with some mason jars in the large pockets of his hoodie. He was wearing his pajamas, scratching at a mosquito bite on his arm. 

“Nah, I’ve been up. What are you doin’ here? How’d you manage to get out this time a’ night?”

“Dean thinks I’m sleeping over at Lewis’s, and Lewis thinks I went home. I, uh, wanted to hang out with you.”

Mitch tried to cover up his smile, but it was hard with the way it took up most of his face. Any other time he’d be upset that Jonas had put himself at risk just to go and hang out with him. He tried to push open the window, but the screen fell out onto the ground. A moment later, he reached out for his boyfriend, who grabbed his large hand and helped him down to the ground.

It was warm enough outside that Mitch hadn’t even realized he was just wearing his ripped jeans. When he looked down on his thin stomach, he flicked his wrist and a (clean?) shirt had flown into his hand from one of his drawers. 

Jonas turned his head abashedly as he paused for Mitch to pull it over his head.

“I was thinking we could take a walk. It’s still really warm out.”

“Tell me about it.”

He wiped some sweat off the back of his neck and onto his pant leg. Jonas extended his hand with a sweet smile, and Mitch gladly took it.

“Lead the way, Spots.” He jokingly sank all his weight onto his feet, having Jonas drag him forward a step.

“Oh come on, you know how to walk.” 

“Who says.”

As he trailed behind him Mitch thought, it wasn’t like he was wide awake for being with him, more like he was tired. Not in a boring way, but in a comforting way. Just being with such a beautiful boy, leading through him the dim forest, barely illuminated by the moonlight, Mitch didn’t feel so full of adrenaline as usual. He didn’t feel on edge, ready to attack at any moment, he felt completely content being led along. 

“Getting tired back there?” 

When Jonas had turned around to check on him, Mitch could feel his knees buckle. As if he wasn’t pretty enough, the light of the moon accenting his face, /his freckles/, the intricate curls of his dark hair, most importantly his sleepy smile, was enough to make any man weak. 

“‘Course not. Jus’ bein’ eaten alive over here.” He swatted a small bug off his bicep before it could bite him. “Where are we even going?”

“We’re almost there. And I’m sure you’ll survive.” 

“Don’t speak too soon, Spots. They might just gnaw me ‘til I’m a skeleton. That’s on you.” 

Jonas rolled his eyes and pulled harder on Mitch’s wrist. When Mitch rubbed his thumb softly against the back of his hand, he ducked his head, hiding the obnoxious silly grin he was sporting. By now he should’ve been used to his proclivity for affection, but his red cheeks and pink lights must not have gotten the message. Ah well.

Soon they had made their way over to a secluded little area of the woods. They should have been wary of the woods by now, but they were both too distracted to care. Jonas stopped dead in his tracks, and he felt Mitch slam into his shoulder blades, unaware of the sudden stop. When his larger body fell onto the other boys’ smaller one, both of them had fallen over, and Jonas soon felt his cheek meet his hoodie sleeves as he protected his face from the ground.

Jonas slowly opened his eyes, heart still racing. He could vaguely make out spurts of green light around him fading. His lower shin was throbbing with subtle pain where he had hit it on a fallen branch, and his boyfriend was heavy on his back. Leaves were tangled in his hair and his hoodie was flecked with cool dirt. Once he had mentally assessed his body and realized he wasn’t in danger, he pushed himself up on his hands. Suddenly, the steady weight on his back had fallen off, yelping a curse word.

“Shit!” 

“Oh! Are you alright?” He had draped himself over Mitch’s body without realizing, placing one of his palms on his chest.

Both of their faces promptly shifted to shades of red, but neither had noticed in the dark, only being able to vaguely make out each other’s silhouettes.

“Ah, sorry. About that.”

Jonas pulled his hand back to his side with an awkward chuckle. Looking up above him was met with a flurry of leaves in his face, but when he pushed them aside, his expression shifted to one of wonder. “We’re here.”

Mitch was paralyzed in his own sense of wonder. His Spots' face had practically lit up in a matter of seconds, and he simply couldn’t handle how cute he was sometimes. He often legitimately wondered if it was a crime to be too lovable, because if it was, Jonas was checking all the boxes.

“Want some help?” Jonas’s hand was extended to him again, and he grabbed it without a second thought.

The taller boy wiped off the dirt and grass stains on his jeans as best he could.

“Um. Sidney and I used to come here a lot when we were younger. To watch the fireflies. And then we’d catch some in jars, and put them on our shelves.” He pulled one of the small jars out of the pocket of his oversized hoodie.

“Fireflies? You mean glowbugs.” Jonas’s brow furrowed in confusion as he frowned.

“No way, I don’t know what kind of planet you come from Mueller, but they’re called /fireflies/.”

“Everyone I ever met calls em’ /glowbugs/.”

“Everyone /I’ve/ ever met calls them-”

“Glowbugs. They glow.” His insistence was met with a scoff.

He had just about dropped the jar in his hand when Mitch squeezed his side with no warning and lifted up his chin with the finger on his other hand. Suddenly, the air around his torso was filled with pink lights, with small green tendrils.

“They glow like you.”

Jonas moved his gaze to the black dirt, trying to will the pink lights to fade. That was the thing with emotional powers, they always gave away exactly how you felt with no permission. 

“Anyway, you wanna catch some?” he pressed one of his jars into Mitch’s hand, taking his own and walking slowly to the group of insects. 

He couldn’t help his face lighting up. Jonas had seen them millions of times, sure, yet they never failed to amaze him. Sidney would say it was a little childish, but smile as he had fun. With great care, he set one foot in front of the other and took the lid off, ready to ambush. Seconds later, he thrust his arms forward quickly and forced the lid back onto the jar with a wicked grin. 

The bugs around him had backed off a bit at the sudden movement, and Jonas held the jar in front of him, beaming at the floating and zipping specks of light inside.

Every time Mitch hung out with Jonas, at least twice he’d ask himself, ‘is it possible for this boy to get any more goddamn cute?’, and seconds later his question would be answered. The answer was always yes. This was certainly one of those times. 

“I got some!” Jonas whisper-yelled. “Remember to be quiet so they don’t fly away.”

Mitch was determined to catch a few. Not because he saw any particular value in the bugs, but the adorable look they put on Jonas’s face was a big enough motivator. He lumbered forward, slamming the lid and jar together. He managed an awkward snicker when he found he had squashed one on the rim of the jar. He shook it off and backed up, ready to try again.

Numerous tries to no avail, each preceded with an ‘I swear I got it this time’. Five more or so later, he heard that darling giggle coming from behind him.

“Are ya trying to hurt my feelings, Glowbug? Because yer succeeding.”

The giggling stuttered until it faded. Jonas scratched at his cheek.

“Hah, do /not/ call me that ever again.”

“Why shouldn’ I?” Jonas broke into a wide grin again.

“B-because it’s lame! And, and dorky.” 

A large smile quickly spread across Mitch’s face.

“Then it’s fitting.”

“Hey!” Jonas playfully pushed his chest and stuck out his tongue, teasing.

“You’re so weird with pet names, Mueller. I could never.”

Mitch tilted his head, suddenly curious. He cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He was so invested in this, he had barely noticed the growing number of mosquito bites developing all over his body.

“Why don’t ya give it a try?”

“Chompers.” 

“Tch! That’s a low blow. You know how ‘self-conscience’ I am about my teeth.”

Jonas tapped his jar with his nails, absentmindedly fidgeting while trying to figure out something simultaneously as sappy and embarrassing as ‘Glowbug’. 

“Well soooo sorry….. Mittens…”

...

“Whatdya just call me??”

He had become overcome with regret as soon as the word left his mouth.

“Uh, didn’t say anything-”

“I’m pretty sure ya said somethin’. Didn’t know you were such a romantic…..mittens...” 

He kept his eyes trained on the ground as he scratched the back of his neck. The warm air had suddenly felt frigid, and his heart was racing, but in a different way than usual. He wasn’t used to this. He was supposed to be making Jonas fall head over heels, but now he was turning the tables on him, and he quite literally had no idea what to do.

“It’s not...great, but it was the best I could come up with, you know? Are you blushing?”

Mitch massaged his temples with one hand, completely forgetting how to talk. What was he supposed to say? It seemed that Jonas had gotten a leg up on him this time. After all the flirtatious and suave moves he’d pulled, he was finally on the receiving end. Touche. 

“No ‘m just, I’m cold.”

“It’s like seventy degrees.”

“Yeah, yeah. Ya got me Spots.”

“Huh?”

“Ya got me. With yer sweet talkin’, and shit.”

“Snrk. Uh, really?” 

When Jonas looked at Mitch’s eyes, which were vehemently avoiding his. He’d never seen him flustered like this before. Anytime his face was red it was purely from anger or adrenaline. But now, he was falling for him. And as nervous as it made him, he just couldn’t deny it any longer. He really did have power over him, and something deep inside of him decided that he would never relenquish it.

He wondered what else he could do….

Which was why he walked right up to him and grabbed his scruffy chin gently between his thumb and index finger. He could practically feel Mitch’s breath stop completely.

“Well, I think you look pretty good in red.” His confidence had surpassed what he had previously thought possible, and he pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. 

Jonas lingered there momentarily, basking in the heat radiating off his face. He ducked his head into the crook of his neck, placing his palm onto the same side of his chest. In seconds he could sense the feeling of strong arms coming up to slowly wrap around his back.

“It is getting pretty late, huh? Maybe we should uh, head back to my place.”

“Heh, I could only stay over til about 6 am, if I’m not back home by 6:30 Dean would rip me to pieces.” Jonas could feel Mitch’s arms tense protectively when he said the last part of the sentence.

“Don’t get angry now.”

“Too late.” Mitch ran his hands over Jonas’s shoulder blades and lower back, sinking him deeper into his comfortable embrace.

“Welp, let’s go, I’m about to pass out.”

“Alright, alright. Want me to lead the way back?” Jonas pulled from the embrace and held out his hand once more.

And out here in the forest, with his sleepy boyfriend wearing Pokemon pajama pants, with nothing but the moonlight and the bugs to guide them, is the best place Mitch has ever been.  
\--

The walk back had only reminded the boys how tired they were. Numerous times they stumbled over thin air, giggling sleepily the whole time. It was a wonder they were still standing by the time they got back to the trailer.

Jonas lazily dragged off his hoodie and set it on the cleanest part of Mitch’s carpet. When he did, the jar had tumbled out onto the floor, and the bugs had zipped around from being startled.

“Oh, yeah! Here, you want them? You know, since you couldn’t catch any.”

“For your information, I absolutely /could have/ if I wanted to.” No he could not have.

“Well, I’ll just set them up here anyway.” Jonas placed the jar on the top of Mitch’s dresser, grinning as the bugs blinked and hovered. “There. Glowbugs from your Glowbug.” The cheesy remark had earned him a sigh.

“You really have got to stop bein’ so cute. Yer gonna be the death of me someday.” Jonas scoffed. He climbed into Mitch’s bed and situated himself next to the wall, waiting for him to join.

“Goodnight… Mittens.” He could hear a snicker from the larger body curled up behind him.

“‘Night Glowbug.”


End file.
